Appointments to State Boards

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2012

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Ceisteanna (228)

Gerry Adams

Ceist:

269 Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a breakdown of the number of appointments that have been made to State boards by him since he came to office, including the names of the appointees and the boards they have been appointed to; the number of these appointments that have been made using new procedures involving the advertising of such posts on his Department’s websites and the interview of the chairperson of boards by Oireachtas committee; if he will highlight situations where this process has not occurred; and the reason it has not occurred in each case. [5049/12]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Brendan Howlin)

In response to the Deputy's question, the following are appointments made to bodies under the aegis of my Department since 9 March 2011:

An Post National Lottery

Name of Appointee	Date Appointed
Mr. Donal Connell — Chairman	re-appointed until 28th February 2012.

I re-appointed Mr. Connell as chairman until 28th February 2012. This was to allow time for Mr. Connell to appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform in accordance with Government policy, prior to being appointed for the normal term of office. Mr. Connell appeared before the Joint Committee on 14th December 2011. I intend to re-appoint Mr. Connell as chairman with effect from 1st March 2012 shortly.

Civil Service Arbitration Board

Name of Appointee	Date Appointed
Mr. Turlough O’Donnell, S.C. (Chair)	Appointed 1 July 2011
Mr. Gerard Barry
Mr. Tom Wall
Mr. George Maybury
Mr. Hugh O’Flaherty

The new procedures were not used in this case and the Chairman was not interviewed by Oireachtas.

The conciliation and arbitration scheme for the Civil Service, the Permanent Defence Forces, the Garda and Teachers sets out the nomination process for the Board and its appointment by Government

Public Appointments Service

Name of Appointee	Date Appointed
Mr. Eddie Sullivan, Chairman	All Members appointed on 1 Sep. 2011
Mr. Des Dowling, Assistant Secretary — Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government
Dr Deirdre O’Keeffe, Assistant Secretary — Department of Justice and Equality
Patricia Coleman, Director — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Mr. Seán McGrath — National Director of Human Resources in the Health Service Executive
Ms Judith Eve — former Chairperson the Civil Service Commissioners, Northern Ireland
Dr. Eddie Molloy — Management Consultant
Mr. Dan Murphy, former General Secretary of the Public Service Executive Union
Mr. Bryan Andrews as Chief Executive Officer of the Public Appointments Service holding office on an ex officio basis.

The appointments were not made using the new procedures and the previous Chairman was reappointed to the role on the new board.

The reason for not following the new procedures in relating to board appointments is that the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act, 2004 states that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (in consultation with Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence) should appoint members of the Board of the Public Appointments Service.

The Board is meant to be representative of its client base i.e. (Government Departments and Public Service Bodies). The majority of the board are therefore civil or public servants, nominated by the relevant Minister. There is also a union representative nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). I reappointed the outgoing Chairman.

I approved the appointment of the two external members because of their expertise in strategic change and public service recruitment respectively.